High speed plastic card embossing machines such as the assignee's model 18,000 and Data Card Corporation's model 1500 and 15,000 achieve high speed by use of multiple embossing stations (modules) to emboss different lines of characters on a card. Each embossing station is dedicated to embossing a single line, the position of which is manually preset (vertically in the Y direction) according to the card format being run. The cards are carried in separated rails having a fixed or reference bottom rail and a top compliant rail. The cards are positioned in the X direction between the rails, by pushing them with a protrusion attached to a toothed belt. Friction provided by the compliant top rail prevents the card from coasting when the belt decelerates. In these systems the cards only move in a forward direction along the transport path with the cards being passed serially past the various embossing stations.
Small desk-top embossers such as the assignee's ADVANTAGE.TM. series, which is described in detail in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,760, embossers previously manufactured by Fima Corporation of Italy and Data Card Corporation's models 280, 310 and 410 use a single embossing station and a carriage that positions the card in both the X and Y directions which allows embossing anywhere on the card. The assignee's and Data Card Corporation's small embossers use a small light weight carriage design which grips the card along one edge to facilitate high speed positioning. Fima Corporation's embossers used a carriage which framed the card with metallic members that is much heavier.
Data Card Corporation's model 9,000 is an immediate speed modular embosser which uses a single embossing station having a carriage which moves along X and Y axes directions as in its desk-top models. The modularity in the model 9,000 applies to the ability of it to add functions such as magnetic encoding, "smart" card encoding, printing, overlay lamination etc. Transporting the card in the modules therein is performed by a variety of card moving devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,889 discloses an integrated circuit card programming device for programming so called "smart" cards. Smart cards contain an integrated circuit PROM which is programmed through an external contact area on the card face which has electrical circuit connections between segments of the contact area and terminals of the integrated circuit PROM. The programming of smart cards is a time consuming operation which requires many seconds to fully program the PROM in each card. Therefore, in order to achieve production at a reasonably high speed, the programming device of the '889 patent picks cards to be programmed from a card source and places them in a plurality of radially disposed personalization stations at which programming of the memory cells within the PROM is performed over a period of typically several seconds. Thereafter, the cards are outputted through a card output platform. The buffering of the cards in the personalization stations permits throughput to be increased when compared to programming of cards with only a single programming station.
The programming device of the '889 patent is mechanically complicated. The programming device of the '889 patent is described as performing programming of individual cards in a "first-in/first-out" basis. The overall processing speed is dependent upon complicated compound movements which interfere with the high production speeds achieved with in line credit card embossing systems which perform multiple processes on credit cards which are required to complete the manufacturing of personalized credit cards such as bank cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,369 discloses a degaussing system for magnetic heads used for recording magnetic stripes on credit cards. The '369 patent discloses that degaussing residual magnetism resultant from recording cards having magnetic mediums with high coercivity, which must be cancelled to avoid harmful affects on subsequent recording of cards having magnetic mediums of low coercivity, is performed by (1) the application of a pulse signal of opposite polarity to the polarity of the last recorded data bit or (2) alternatively applying a sweep signal which increases in frequency until the response characteristic of the magnetic head which is being degaussed in exceeded.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,216 discloses an automatic embossing systems in which all embossable characters are processed to derive three control numbers for each character which identify the address of the character on (1) rotatable embossing wheels relative to a reference rotary position thereon, (2) the horizontal position of the card at which the character is to be embossed (X address) and (3) the line number of the card (Y address) at which the character is to be embossed. Embossing of the characters takes place with the characters being embossed in the order of the ascending wheel addresses as ordered in each ascending line location. In the first line, the character having the lowest embosser wheel address is embossed first followed by embossing successive characters in ascending wheel address order until the character with the highest wheel address in the first line is finished. Embossing proceeds in the same fashion through the remaining lines in ascending line addresses with the characters of each line being embossed in ascending wheel address on the embosser wheels. This embossing system, while providing improved efficiency by ordering the characters in an embossing order which lessens the time to emboss each card when compared to embossing the characters in an order in a line in which they occur, does not optimize the time required to emboss each card.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,706 discloses an embossing method and apparatus in which individual cards are embossed with the characters sorted into an order so that each of the characters in the group of characters to be embossed are selected with the shortest movement time from the current embossing position to a next embossing position. The shortest movement time is the longer of the time required for the rotatable embossing wheels to rotate to the new rotary position of the character to be embossed or to translate the card carriage from the current X and Y coordinates to the new X and Y coordinates of the next character to be embossed. While this process is an improvement over embossing characters in the order in which they appear in the lines to be embossed on a credit card, it does not provide optimal embossing speeds which are crucial to achieving the highest throughput in a credit card embossing system.
Current credit card embossing systems load cards to be embossed in a single input station where they are picked and transported to in line processing stations where successive processing operations are performed on the cards such as embossing of characters, recording of information on the magnetic stripe on the back surface of the card and applying topping material to the embossed characters followed by collection of the cards in an output station. The processed cards in the systems are checked for proper magnetic recording and embossing at various points during processing such as for example, described in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,760. Cards which have been erroneously processed are collected in reject bins for either reprocessing or discarding.
However, current credit card embossing systems do not allow multiple job formats to be simultaneously programmed and/or processed on cards selected from multiple input stations which are further collected in programmed selected individual output stations in a group of multiple output stations. As a result, the overall flexibility of current credit card embossing systems is limited because only a single card supply may be used in association with the programming of a card format and/or embossing thereof. This deficiency prevents the processing of cards of different types with different formats by using simultaneous or sequential processing of card blanks from different card issuers of differing physical appearance without stopping of the embosser to program the next card processing format. Therefore, the overall processing efficiency of current credit card embossing systems to process multiple card types and formats is limited in view of the requirement that the single input station must have its card blanks changed and its controller reprogrammed to provide processing of cards having different physical appearances. This process is especially inefficient when multiple jobs are to be processed with each job comprising a relatively small number of cards to be processed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,981 discloses a cartoning machine in which multiple input stations are provided which may be selectively positioned over vacuum cups to supply carton blanks, which may be of different types, to the cartoning machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,704 discloses a printing apparatus in which print blanks for printing airline tickets are fed from multiple bins to permit tickets of different types to be supplied on demand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,519 discloses a card vending machine in which identical card dispensers are provided with one of the dispensers being a spare when the other card dispenses is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,268 discloses a printed circuit board positioning apparatus in which individual circuit boards are provided by a lift unit which moves the boards vertically upward where thereafter they are held by a pair of side grooves for transporting the circuit board along a transport path for automatic electronic part mounting. Backup pins hold the circuit board at a predetermined mounting level. After mounting of the electronic components is complete, the individual circuit board is freed from the slide grooves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,781 discloses a modular card processing system which is designed for processing credit cards. The system of the '781 patent is modular to permit the variation of the physical length of the machine to accommodate different numbers of modules. The various modules are mechanically connected to each other through a standard mechanical interface. The system also has an electrical interface having an AC power bus and common software. However, the system of the '781 patent achieves modularity without an expandable frame providing a fixed reference position for the mounting of modular card processing stations which are attached to the frame in a single in line transport path.
FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively illustrate side and elavational views of an embosser disclosed in FIGS. 22 and 23 of the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,760 and used in the assignee's ADVANTAGE.TM. embosser. The disclosure of the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,760 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Only the upper half of the individual embosser has been completely illustrated but it should be understood that the structure of the bottom half is substantially identical. The embosser is activated synchronously with the activation of individual character pairs carried by each of the embossing wheels 34 and 36 as described below. An interposer 30 is used so that energy sufficient to activate rams 32 associated with female and male embossing wheels 34 and 36 through toggle linkage 38 and 40 can be stored as rotational kinetic energy and very rapidly connected to the individual character pairs 80 and 82 with sufficient force (e.g., 300 pounds) to provide acceptably embossed characters in a minimum amount of time without creating accessive noise or requiring a larger embossing motor (not illustrated). An embossing motor is connected to a fly wheel (not illustrated) in a known manner through a belt and pulley (not illustrated) fixed on a shaft (not illustrated) journaled to the machine frame (not illustrated). The fly wheel is continuously rotated by the embossing motor and is sized to provide the aforementioned kinetic energy which is utilized to supplement the torque of the motor and drive the toggle linkage 38 and 40 upon rapid actuation of the interposer assembly 30, as hereafter described, to emboss a card 42 positioned by a carriage (not illustrated) at a character embossing position having selected X and Y axes coordinates by moving the card between the rams 32 associated with the embossing wheels 34 and 36. The fly wheel eliminates a need for a larger embossing motor with greater torque and thereby permits the embosser to be more compact and light in weight.
Different matched character pairs 80 and 82 on the embosser wheels 34 and 36 are rotated to an rotary character embossing position on the card 42 in association with movement of the card carriage to a set of X and Y coordinates defining a card embossing position to emboss each character in a known manner by rotation of a positioning motor having an encoder (not illustrated). The motor rotating the embosser wheels is connected to the embosser wheels 34 and 36 through a belt (not illustrated). The embosser wheels 34 and 36 rotate together around a shaft 44 and have a pulley (not illustrated) around which the belt (not illustrated) is wrapped between the motor and the embosser wheels so that precise and rapid movement of the wheels can be achieved.
The toggle links 38 and 40 consist of upper and lower 4-bar linkages which are sized to provide the aforementioned substantial amount of force such as 300 pounds at the rams 32. Furthermore, a dwell is produced with the top actuator lever 46 bringing the ram 32 carried in the upper wheel 34 to its final position slightly before the actuator lever (not illustrated) of the lower wheel 36 brings its ram (not illustrated) for the matched character pair to its final embossing position.
The interposer assembly 30 is arranged between the embosser motor and the embosser wheels 34 and 36 to provide synchronous control of the connection of power from the embosser motor to the matched character pairs 80 and 82 at the proper time during at best every other rotation of the embosser motor. The above described embosser linkage is driven by the embosser motor through crank 50 mounted at the end of shaft 52 connected to the aforementioned fly wheel. A sensor disk 54 associated with a sensor 56 is used to signal when the position of the character pairs carried by the embosser wheels is at top dead center as explained below in association with FIG. 3. The crank 50 continually rotates with the embosser motor. A magnetic coil 52 is mounted on lever 46. An armature 54 is mounted to pivot about a pivot point 56'. A stop 58 is mounted on the lever 46 to prevent counterclockwise motion of the armature 54 beyond the substantially vertical position shown in FIG. 1. An interposer slide 60 is pivoted at point 62 at the bottom the armature 54. The slide 60 is horizontally slidable within di-blocks 64 held by a conventional fastener at the end of lever 46. Upon actuation of the magnetic coil 52 to rotate the armature 54 clockwise around pivot 56', the slide 60 is pushed forward to the left to position projection 68 over the ram 32. The movement of projection 68 of slide 60 into the space 66, which otherwise is insufficient to provide contact between the lever 46 and the ram 32, now transmits force from the downward rocking of the lever 46 to the ram 32 which drives its character 80 into the upper face of the card 42 simultaneously with the character 82 being driven upward. The lower assembly (not illustrated) functions in the same manner with its interposer being activated at the same time as the upper interposer 30. The projection 68 is dimensioned to slide snugly into the space 66 between the lever 46 and the ram 32 when the rocker is in the position as illustrated in FIG. 1.
The interposer arrangement provided in the lower assembly may be sized differently from the projection 68 in view of the lower lever associated with the lower wheel 36 traveling a greater distance than the end of the lever 46 associated with the wheel 34. The rams 32 are biased by spring 70 away from an embossing position after the lever 46 has moved to the illustrated open position. An adjustable stop 72 mounted on bracket 74 holds the rams 32 securely on the frame of the embosser to permit adjustment of the gap to about 0.010 inches between the ram 32 and the associated slide 60. Shims 76 may be inserted between guide blocks 64 and the levers 46 to provide the aforementioned spacing.
Actuation of the magnetic coil 52 by a signal pivots the armature 54 clockwise away from stop 58 which moves the projection 68 in line with the end of the ram 32. When the projection 68 is in line with the end of the ram 32, the downward rocking motion of the lever 46 and the upward rocking motion of the lower lever will transmit energy directly to the individual character pair 80 and 82 to emboss that character on the face of the card 42. As indicated above, the kinetic energy stored in the fly wheel is then converted into the high force necessary to emboss the character on the card 42.
The magnetic coil 52 is only momentarily activated. When the lever 46 approaches top dead center, sufficient clearance develops between projection 68, ram 32 and the lever to permit the armature 54 to rotate counterclockwise under the force supplied by spring 59 until contact with the stop 58 is made. As a result, the lever 46 and the lower lever freely reciprocate without transmitting force to a character pair 80 and 82 to emboss a character on the face of the card 42. Every other revolution of the embosser motor is used to move the wheels 34 and 36 and the embosser carriage to position the card 42 at the rotary and X and Y coordinates of the next character to be embossed.
FIG. 3 illustrates a timing diagram of the operation of the embosser of FIGS. 1 and 2. The embosser of FIGS. 1 and 2 is synchronous in that the activation of the interposer 30 by the application of a signal to the magnet 52 and the other magnet on the lower lever controls the time interval during which embossing may take place synchronized with the rotation of the crank 50 which is driven by the motor as described above. The embosser motor revolutions are indicated as cycles with the numbers 0, 1 and 2 along the abscissa indicating successive revolutions of the embosser motor. The FIRST EMBOSSING CYCLE, appearing between points 0 and 1, is equal to one revolution of the embosser motor which reciprocates the crank 50 through a complete cycle of revolution. The time between points 0 and 1 along the abscissa is when embossing of a character takes place and the time between points 1 and 2 along the abscissa is when embosser wheel and carriage motion takes place. At top dead center (TDC) the individual character pair 80 and 82 is separated from the card 42 by the greatest distance. Actual embossing of the card 46 occurs when character pair 80 and 82 is driven into contact with the faces of the card 46 during the time interval between JUST PRIOR TO CONTACT and CLEARANCE in the FIRST EMBOSSING CYCLE. The midpoint of an EMBOSSING CYCLE is bottom dead center (BDC) at which time the individual character pair 80 and 82 is driven deepest into the faces of the 42 card. The points JUST PRIOR TO CONTACT and CLEARANCE are respectively when the character pair 80 and 82 are just making and clearing surface contact with the card 42. It should be understood that the projection of the character face of the individual male characters carried by one of the wheels is not illustrated. At the end of the FIRST EMBOSSING CYCLE, the individual character pair 80 and 82 is again positioned at TDC. The sensor 56 signals when the character pairs 80 and 82 are at TDC and initiates embosser wheel rotation and carriage translation during the FIRST MOTION CYCLE.
The FIRST MOTION CYCLE is equal in time duration to the FIRST EMBOSSING CYCLE and spans time points 1 and 2. As stated above, the indication of TDC by the sensor 56 is used to time the initiation of rotation of the embossing wheels 34 and 36 around shaft 44 and the translation of the carriage which moves the card 42 to the X and Y axes coordinates of the next character to be embossed in accordance with well known practice as described for example in the after said U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,760. The time permitted to rotate the embossing wheels 34 and 36 and translate the carriage to position the card 42 at the next set of rotary and X and Y axes embossing coordinates at which the character pair 80 and 82 is to be embossed spans the FIRST MOTION CYCLE. This mode of operation does not utilize the additional time interval between CLEARANCE and TDC at the end of the FIRST EMBOSSING CYCLE and the additional time interval between TDC and JUST PRIOR TO CONTACT in the SECOND EMBOSSING CYCLE. Use of any time during an EMBOSSING CYCLE for rotation of the embossing wheels 34 and 36 and card carriage movement would increase the throughput of the embosser.